Forging bonds, honoring nature and finding peace are the goals of the 2016 Canoe Journey, known as the Paddle to Nisqually, participants say.

Pacific Northwest and Canadian tribes will paddle to Nisqually lands near Olympia for a week of celebration from July 30 through Aug. 6.

Bonding experience

“I really think that [the journey] builds bonds between tribes,” said Polly DeBari, Makah Canoe Society journey coordinator.

“When you are out on the water together and you are living with each other for two or three weeks, you can build some really good bonds with everybody. I think that is important: to keep the bonds between our tribes strong.”

During the journey, canoes from each tribe “raft up together and eat lunch and tell stories,” DeBari said.

During the journey, Sonja Elofson, Lower Elwha Klallam Canoe Family coordinator, said the tribes share their “songs and dances with each other — sharing what our tribe does with other tribes.”

By participating in the Canoe Journey, “we are going back to our more traditional values and paddle to get from place to place,” she said.

The bonds between members of the same tribe also are strengthened, DeBari said.

“Even though you know people in your community, when you sit next to them for two or three hours at a time, you get to talk about all kinds of stuff, and I think it creates bonds within our canoe family,” she said.

“We invite lots of folks to come, and they may go one time or they may return every year, but you’ve created that bond with them, and that stays forever.”

DeBari, 60, will be one of about 50 pullers taking turns in the Makah canoe, Many Hands, along the way.

She has been participating in journeys since the mid-1990s, she said.

During an eight-month period in 1996 and 1997, DeBari’s husband, brother and first cousin all died, she said.

“It was just really hard times. I was a single mother with six kids, and I was pretty depressed,” she said.

A healing journey

“Tribal journeys was something that I got into that I think pulled me out of that,” DeBari said.

“There were a few other cultural things that I did, but tribal journeys played a big role in helping me find purpose in my life.

“It is very healing, and I continue to do it every year. I feel like I need to go every year to refresh myself and keep healing, keep healthy.”

Being out in the water is “really amazing,” DeBari continued.

“You just feel like you are out there by yourself, and we see the most beautiful things. We see seals, otters, whales, killer whales. We see all these beautiful things in nature just right there in front of you.

“It is just really calming and peaceful. It is very spiritual. It is just so hard to explain to someone unless they’ve done it.”

Even when the waters “are rough and it is raining or it’s windy and you are fighting your way through, the camaraderie of your whole group” keeps moving everyone forward, DeBari said.

As an alcohol- and drug-free event, the journey also is a healing experience for those who have struggled with substance abuse in the past, Elofson said.

“That is a really important thing for us to come together as a community and celebrate people who have been struggling with that and are on their way to creating a better life for themselves,” she said.

Sustaining culture

The journey is a way to sustain Native cultures, allowing tribal elders time to share traditional stories and songs with younger generations, Elofson said.

“One thing our canoe family is doing this year is focusing heavily on youth and getting our youth involved,” she said.

“Making sure our traditions stay alive through storytelling,” Elofson added, and “making sure that the kids are there to hear these stories, and continue to pass them on for years to come,” is of utmost importance. “That way, they don’t die away.”

About 50 members of the Lower Elwha tribe — ranging in age from 10 to 60 — will take turns paddling the canoe, Beautiful Sister, during the odyssey, Elofson said.

“We love having some of the elders come along with us so that way, they can tell what stories they have with the youth,” she said.

________

Features Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.